


Simply Complicated

by BroomballKraken



Category: Code:Realize ～創世の姫君～ | Code: Realize - Guardian of Rebirth (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, Post Lupin Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23927953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroomballKraken/pseuds/BroomballKraken
Summary: To the outside world, they were Captain Leonhardt and Her Highness the Queen of Britain. But in the privacy of the Queen’s bedchambers, they were Rempart and Victoria, a simple - no, not simple, just...simply complicated - man and woman who had a lot of love to give...especially to each other.
Relationships: Rempart Leonhardt/Alexandrina Victoria (Code: Realize)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Simply Complicated

**Author's Note:**

> *sees a relationship tag that hasn't been created yet* It's free real estate
> 
> Anyway, I love these two and think they should smooch and be hopelessly in love and live happy lives together. Thanks for reading!

“Is something bothering you, Your Majesty?”

Victoria was jerked abruptly from her thoughts as she turned to find Leonhardt watching her, his brow creased with a look of concern in his eyes. It was the end of a long, exhausting day of seemingly endless meetings, political or otherwise, and by now the Queen of Britain was a bit out of sorts. Apparently she had spaced out for the entire walk from the throne room to her bedchambers, for she just now noticed that they were standing right outside of her door. How...unlike her to let her guard down so carelessly.

“I‘m fine. Just...a bit more tired than usual, I suppose,” Victoria said, stepping through the door when Leonhardt opened it for her. Once they both were inside and the door was closed tight, Victoria allowed herself to sigh deeply. 

“Things have been a bit more...hectic than usual after everything that’s happened.” Leonhardt mused, following Victoria as she swiftly crossed the room to her vanity and dropped unceremoniously into the chair in front of it. They fell into a comfortable silence as Leonhardt got to work helping remove her outerwear, starting with her cloak. Victoria rolled her shoulders to help crack her back as she pondered his words.

Hectic. That was an understatement that caused Victoria to chuckle softly. Issac Beckford had almost completely and utterly destroyed London in his quest for a never-ending, global war. Luckily that had been avoided, due to the efforts of Issac’s daughter and her band of trouble-making, rambunctious friends.

Dealing with the aftermath of the chaos was exhausting, however. Between the efforts to rebuild London and the negotiations with the young but surprisingly mature vampire king, Victoria barely had time to eat, and her erratic sleep schedule left much to be desired. But, there was one thing that remained a constant in her life, and that was Leonhardt, her most loyal and trustworthy guard and friend.

Be that as it may, Leonhardt was also a cause of recent mental strife for her. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, and she absentmindedly lifted her foot for Leonhardt, who had knelt down in front of her to help remove her shoes.

The recent horrific events had Victoria thinking hard about the future, specifically pertaining to her...personal life. Seeing so many people lose their lives so swiftly and unexpectedly had her thinking about her own mortality, about how fragile even her life was. It made her desperate to speak of her buried, unspoken feelings of longing that had been festering within her for a long, long time. She wanted to tell Leonhardt of her true feelings for him.

She did not know exactly when it had happened, but at some point from the time he became her most loyal Guard Captain to now, Victoria had fallen in love with Leonhardt. He was the only person that she could truly let her guard down around, and not worry about him judging her for expressing her exact feelings. She could not recall the last time someone other than Leonhardt had seen her cry, and she would be keeping it that way. He never really said much during those times when she had felt her most broken, he just held her until she could compose herself and move on as if nothing had happened.

Victoria also not only admired his undying devotion to her, but also his dedication to the men under his command, and the general compassion that he held for those that he swore to protect. She had watched Leonhardt train new guardsmen in secret many times, and she was always impressed with his efficient and effective training regimens, but also his patience when a recruit was struggling to keep up. Maybe it was while watching one of those training sessions that she fell in love with him.

Her head suddenly felt lighter, and Victoria glanced at Leonhardt through the mirror, watching as he lifted her hat and headdress from her head and placed it on the vanity. He then moved to stand behind her again, and took a bow.

“I will take my leave now, Your Majesty. Please, rest well. Goodnight.” Leonhardt said, and he started to make for the door. Victoria frowned as a creeping, familiar loneliness dropped into her gut like a pound of lead. This was how her nightly routine usually went; Leonhardt would help her with removing her outerwear and accessories, and then he would leave and send in the maids to help her with the rest of her undressing. Tonight, however, she found that it would be a bit too painful to let him leave so soon.

“Wait.”

A small smile crept over Victoria’s face when Leonhardt froze mid-step, and he quickly straightened up as he turned back around, brows knitted with confusion. It had always amused Victoria at how animated Leonhardt was, and how easy it was to read his feelings. He always seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve, and Victoria made a mental note that he would be absolutely awful at playing poker.

“...Is there something else that you want from me, Your Majesty?” he asked, after a brief moment of hesitation.

Victoria almost laughed at the deceptively simple question, but she managed to keep a straight face. On the contrary, it was anything but simple. There were many, many things that she wanted...no, _needed_ from him. She needed to feel the warmth of his hand in hers, his calloused fingers entwined with her soft, delicate ones. She needed to indulge in the taste of his kiss, and smile against his lips when the hairs of his mustache inevitably tickled her nose. She needed to whisper sweet nothings into his ear as she melted into his embrace. She needed to tell him what her true feelings for him were, that she loved him…

She scoffed inwardly at her simplistic, adolescent desires. It was as if she was a princess in a fairy tale, dreaming of her one true love, her prince charming, her knight in shining armor...her most loyal Captain of the Royal Guard...How exceedingly immature of her...but, frustratingly, her heart still longed, _ached_ for him.

“Yes,” she said as she stood up, “I want you to stay and...help me with my hair.” Victoria bit her cheek to keep herself from laughing when Leonhardt sputtered, and she caught his face flushing the brightest shade of red before she disappeared behind her dressing screen.

“B-But, Your Majesty, t-that would be...would you not feel more comfortable with, ah, a fellow woman helping you with that?” Victoria heard him ask as she quickly shed the rest of her clothes, letting out a sigh of relief when her restricting corset was removed.

“Leonhardt, you should know by now that you are the one person that I am most comfortable with,” Victoria responded, and she snickered when she heard him inhale sharply. Silence filled the room, and Victoria paused as she waited for his reply.

“...Is that an order, Your Majesty?” he said, and Victoria rolled her eyes. What a very Leonhardt like thing to ask.

“It is merely a simple request,” she said, although he probably thought that it was anything but simple. “You can leave if you truly want to.” Victoria left it at that as she grabbed her nightgown that was hanging over the dressing screen and slipped it on. She half expected Leonhardt to have retreated from the room by now, but she was pleasantly surprised when she stepped out from behind the screen to find him still standing stock still in the same spot that she had left him.

“Oh? I’m surprised that you didn’t flee from the room, with how much you were protesting,” Victoria teased, letting a giggle slip when Leonhardt cleared his throat and averted his gaze.

“Well, how could I refuse an honest request from my liege?” Leonhardt mumbled, and Victoria’s heart clenched as she grit her teeth. Was that all that she was to him, just the queen that he served? She had a lingering hope that he may harbor the same feeling for her as she did for him, but the fear of him rejecting her was always gnawing at the back of her mind, like a rabid beast picking at a festering wound. She steeled herself as she made her way back to the vanity and sat down.

Victoria’s eyes slipped shut when Leonhardt moved back behind her, and her heartbeat quickened when his hands slid through her hair, carefully removing the clips and pins holding her long white hair in place. She cracked open an eye, and she smiled at the look of deep concentration on Leonhardt’s face.

“You are surprisingly good at this.” Victoria commented, and Leonhardt shrugged as he deposited the last of the pins onto the vanity before grabbing the hairbrush sitting nearby.

“Yes, well, I used to help my sister do her hair all the time.” Leonhardt said, smiling fondly as he started to brush out Victoria’s hair. She nodded slightly, careful to not move her head too much.

“You’re a good man, Leonhardt.” Victoria said, her cerise eyes meeting his emerald green through the mirror. He paused his brushing for a moment as he stared at her, the intensity of his gaze giving her pause, before he broke the eye contact and stared down at her hair.

“You flatter me, Your Majesty. I do my best to uphold the ideals of justice, but it was you who gave me the opportunity to do so in the first place. I am...eternally grateful to you for that.” he said, and those simple, honest words were enough to send Victoria’s heart soaring within her chest. He was indeed the best man that she had ever known...and that scared her, because how could someone as pure-hearted as him love someone like _her?_

Upholding Britain's image as a global powerhouse was a daunting task even for her, one that has led her to sometimes seeking out...unsavory ways to keep it that way. And Leonhardt knew every single one of those ways. As morbid as it sounds, she was lucky that the events caused by Issac Beckford had happened when they did, because she arguably had something just as heinous planned to achieve her own goals. Luckily for her, seeing the aftermath of Issac’s insane plot had opened her eyes to just how awful her own schemes were, and she ceased those plans at once.

But still, Leonhardt had been the only person that she had shared these plans with. How could he not think of her as a monster, considering how many lives that she had been planning to sacrifice for the sake of her country? Victoria knew that Leonhardt would follow her straight to hell if she asked him to, but did she want that? No, certainly not. She wanted only good things for him, even if that meant a lifetime of longing for a love that she did not deserve.

That being said, the possibility - however slim it was - that Leonhardt _did_ share her feelings was too hard to pass up, so even in the face of overwhelming rejection, she decided that she needed to act upon her feelings. She was Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of Britain. She would not let a measly fear of the unknown keep her from her desires, however silly and naive they may be.

“Er, Your Majesty?” Victoria looked up to see that Leonhardt had finished brushing out her hair, and was now shifting nervously on his feet behind her, “It is getting rather late, so I should probably, um, let you retire for the night…”

Victoria frowned as she narrowed her eyes at him. Your Majesty. My Queen. Your Highness. She could not recall the last time, or if he had ever, called her by her actual name. She didn’t like that. Leonhardt was her best friend, most loyal guard, the man that she loved. She wanted to hear him speak her name, and she in turn wanted to speak his.

Shooting up from her seat, she turned around and walked straight up to Leonhardt. He jumped slightly, startled by her sudden movement, and he made to step backwards when Victoria stepped dangerously close. Victoria would not have that, so she stopped him by placing her hands on his arms, freezing him in place almost instantly.

“Say my name.” Victoria said, her gaze intense as she stared Leonhardt in the eye, who just gawked at her, losing any shred of the composure that he had been trying to keep together.

“What?”

“I want to hear you speak my name.” Victoria released her hold on the now dumbstruck man’s arms and instead slid her hands up against his chest. His breath hitched and he tensed up, and Victoria could barely hide her amusement at how absolutely flustered he was.

“B-But…” Leonhardt stuttered, and Victoria sighed, boldly moving her hands from his chest to gently cup his face, her cold fingers warmed by the heat radiating from his cheeks.

“Say my name... _Rempart. _” Victoria whispered, her eyes boring into his as she tilted her head upwards. As he stared down at her, she felt the tension slowly ease away from him under her fingertips. He closed his eyes but for a moment, and when he opened them, Victoria’s heartbeat quickened at the intense fire burning in his eyes.__

____

____

“Is that an...order?” he asked, his voice soft and low, and that was enough to send a shiver down Victoria’s spine.

“It is...a _desire_ , from the deepest depths of my heart.” she breathed, her desperation evident in her voice as Leonhardt slowly brought a hand to her face and gently caressed her cheek with a feather-light brush of his rough, calloused fingers.

“...As you wish... _Victoria._ ”

Hearing the man that she loved finally say her name was enough to completely break the dam that had been holding Victoria’s emotions back. She wasted no time as she pulled Leonhardt face down, closing the distance between them completely as her lips met his. His surprised noise was muffled, and Victoria smiled against his lips as she watched his eyes slowly slip shut, with hers following suit soon after. He removed his shaking hand from her cheek and moved it to the back of her neck, his other hand moving hesitantly to settle on her waist. Victoria relished at the closeness, and she pulled Leonhardt even closer when she snaked her arms around his neck.

Finally kissing the man that she loved after what seemed like an eternity of unspoken, agonizing pining made Victoria feel an indescribable amount of happiness. She tilted her head to deepen the kiss, and the soft hairs of Leonhardt’s mustache brushed lightly against her nose, causing her smile to widen. This...was even better than she had imagined, and when she felt Leonhardt’s lips turn upwards against hers, she knew that he was feeling the same way.

It seemed to end all too soon, but Victoria was forced to pull away to catch her breath. She stared up at Leonhardt’s face as she panted heavily, taking the time to admire the flush on his cheeks and his red, slightly swollen lips. Leonhardt stared down at her, an unsure, hesitant look in his eyes, and Victoria giggled.

“My, my, are you speechless for once in your life, Leonhardt?” she teased, and his face scrunched up as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Ah, well…” he mumbled, “it’s just...I never, in my wildest dreams thought that you would ever...Ah, this...isn’t a dream, is it?” Victoria snorted before she burst out laughing.

“Well, if this is a dream,” Victoria said when she composed herself, and she reached up to gently brush away a bit of Leonhardt’s hair that had fallen into his face before she continued, “then I never want to wake up.”

“Do you...really mean that?” Leonhardt asked, and the complete disbelief in his voice made her heart clench as she frowned.

“Of course I do. I...I have harbored these feelings for you for quite some time now.” Victoria said, the words tumbling out of her all at once. It seemed so easy now, why had she waited so long to tell him this? She watched as Leonhardt pulled away from her, some kind of inner conflict playing out on his face as he ran a hand through his hair and chewed on his bottom lip.

“...Of all the men that you could choose to be with,” Leonhardt finally said, his voice barely above a whisper as he swallowed thickly, “you...would actually choose _me?_ ”

“Yes.” Victoria responded with zero hesitation as she reached out to grasp his hands, calloused from years and years of wielding a sword in her name. “There never has been, and there never will be anyone else that I would choose over you.”

“But, surely you would want someone of royal blood-”

“No,” Victoria cut him off sharply, her eyes narrowing with annoyance, “I am not so shallow as to pick a suitor just because they are royalty. No, Leonhardt, you are the most exceptional man that I have ever met. I trust no one like I trust you, and I...love no one like I love you.” When those last three words left her mouth, Leonhardt’s eyes went wide as saucers, and he finally smiled again.

“I...am at a loss for words,” he said as he approached Victoria again, and the radiant smile on his face was one of the most beautiful things that she had ever seen, “I never imagined that you would ever love me like I love you.”

“Then we have both been pining fools for far too long, haven’t we?” Victoria said, a sly smirk crossing her face as Leonhardt laughed as he pulled her into a warm, safe embrace.

“I do love you,” Leonhardt whispered into her ear. Victoria smiled against his chest; she would never tire of hearing those words fall from his lips, “I love you with all of my heart.”

“I love you too,” she said, pulling away slightly to gaze up at his handsome face. He smiled down at her, before he glanced out of the window at the night sky.

“It is rather late, I should...probably leave you to retire for the evening.” Leonhardt said, a deep frown settling on his face. Victoria could practically see the disappointment oozing out of him, and she shook her head.

“Stay with me tonight, Rempart.” Victoria said softly. He seemed to hesitate for only the slightest moment, before a smile returned to his face as he took her hand in his.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? The maids will talk, you know.” he said, and Victoria laughed and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“Oh, I know they will. I just don’t give a damn.” It was Leonhardt’s turn to bark out a laugh. When he composed himself, he lifted Victoria’s hand to his face, his eyes never leaving hers as he placed a tender kiss on the back of her hand. It was a simple gesture, and yet it ignited such an intense heat deep within her gut that it surprised her.

“As you wish, my beloved Victoria.” he whispered, and Victoria let herself be engulfed in his warm embrace as their lips met once more in a heated, hungry kiss.

To the outside world, they were Captain Leonhardt and Her Highness the Queen of Britain. But in the privacy of the Queen’s bedchambers, they were Rempart and Victoria, a simple - no, not simple, just...simply complicated - man and woman who had a lot of love to give, especially to each other. They would have to part all-too-soon to resume their essential duties, but right now, they were content with basking in the warm of the other’s embrace for as long as they could.


End file.
